Salt Lake dog poisoned by aspirin-laced meatballs

SALT LAKE CITY -- A Salt Lake City woman wants to know why someone laced meatballs with aspirin that poisoned her dog.

Teri Niccoli tells KSL-TV that her dog Luna started losing energy and vomiting on Christmas Eve. Niccoli says she found three meatballs that someone apparently had thrown over the wall of the dog's courtyard play area.

Veterinarian Anne Fairbanks examined the dog and the meatballs, and says she saw about 16 aspirin tablets in one of them.

Fairbanks says no human or dog should take a dose that large. High quantities of the painkiller can cause bleeding ulcers or kidney or liver damage.

Niccoli says her dog didn't eat all the meatballs and is recovering nicely. But the dog owner says she feels helpless and upset that someone would target her pet.